As a help to releasing the creative juices, a preacher may find it helpful to ask questions such:
Helen Bond notes:
…‘The Synoptics record a story in which Jesus’ mother and siblings hear that he is ‘beside himself’ and come to take him home, only to be rebuffed by Jesus (Mk 3:21, 31–4 and pars.).
‘Later on, Jesus’ preaching in the synagogue at Nazareth strikes his hearers as arrogant and presumptuous, prompting him to remark that ‘a prophet never lacks honour except in his home town, among his own relations and his own family’ (Mk 6:1–6 and Mt 13:53–58; in Luke’s dramatic scene the townspeople even try to kill him, Lk 4:16–30).
Mark 15:42 Now when evening had already come, since it was the day of preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a highly regarded member of the council, who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 15:44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He called the centurion and asked him if he had been dead for some time.…
Expository preaching:
The term ‘undesigned coincidences’ was coined by J.J. Blunt in his 1851 book, ‘Undesigned Scriptural Coincidences‘. The idea has been popularised by a number of modern authors, most notably Lydia McGrew in her book ‘Hidden in Plain View‘ (2017). There is also a chapter on ‘Undesigned Coincidences’ in Peter J. Williams, Can We Trust the Gospels?.
(I am aware that atheist Richard Carrier has denied the existence of ‘undesigned coincidences’. …
Matthew 12:28 – “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.’
Luke 11:20 – “If I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you.”
This saying has featured prominently in scholarly discussion about the kingdom of God. If ephthasen is correctly translated as ‘has come’, as most scholars think, then the kingdom was to be regarded, in at least some important senses, as present. …
Vaughan Roberts (born 1965) has been rector of St Ebbes, Oxford, since 1998, and Director of the Proclamation Trust since 2009.
He is committed to consecutive expository preaching. He and his associates will preach through a book of the Bible (or a significant portion of a book), taking between five and thirty verses at a time.
A fairly typical specimen is a sermon entitled ‘God’s merciful plan’, which is part of a series on Romans 9-11 headed ‘The Gospel and Israel’.…
Many present-day evangelical preachers are strongly in favour of expository sermon series. That is to say, they like to preach through a book of the Bible (or an extended portion of the book) paragraph-by-paragraph or section-by-section.
These same preachers tend to admire C.H. Spurgeon as ‘the prince of preachers’.
How curious, then, that Spurgeon’s preaching was textual, rather than expository. His texts were usually just one or two verses. He would often introduce thoughts that did not arise from the text itself. …
J.I. Packer writes:
…If we ask what in a nutshell was God revealing in the biblical period, several things must be said together.
First, God was revealing Himself. He was showing His ‘eternal power and deity’ (Rom. 1:20) as maker and master, and with that His character and His ways with men (see Exod. 34:6f.; 5:9f.; Jer. 9:24; 1 John 1:5; 4:7-10), so that He might be acknowledged and worshipped for all that He is and does and gives.
I confess that I struggle a bit with attending church on Good Friday. In my experience, we come into church with long faces because we remember that this was the day on which our Lord suffered and died, and then return, two days later, full of smiles because – surprise, suprise! – he’s not dead, but alive!
It’s not a great idea to separate Good Friday from Easter Sunday in this way, as though Friday is ‘bad’ and Sunday is ‘good’? …
